French Navy inducts upgraded air-launched nuclear missile

A French Navy Dassault Rafale combat aircraft carrying the ASMPA-R upgraded air-launched nuclear missile during firing evaluations in November 2025. The missile is now operational with both the French air force and navy. (Ministère des Armées)

The French Navy has received into service the Air-Sol Moyenne Portée Amélioré Rénové (ASMPA-R) upgraded air-launched nuclear missile, it was disclosed on 13 November.

Minister of the Armed Forces and Veterans Catherine Vautrin said that the missile carried by the Dassault Rafale combat aircraft was now operational with the Nuclear Aeronaval Force (Force Aéronavale Nucléaire: FANu), following its introduction into service with the Strategic Air Forces (Forces Aériennes Stratégiques: FAS) of the French Air and Space Force two years earlier.

“Operation ‘Diomede', a Marine [French Navy] Rafale successfully conducted [on 13 November] an evaluation firing of the improved medium-range air-to-surface strategic missile renovated (ASMPA-R), without onboard [nuclear] payload, at the end of a flight representative nuclear raid. This is the second firing of the ASMPA-R, and the first carried out by the FANu. This firing takes place only a few days after the operational service entry (OSE) of the ASMPA-R missile within the FANu. This missile has already been in service in the FAS since 2023,” Vautrin said. “Long planned, this successful operation fulfils the ambition set by the President of the Republic and completes the manoeuvre to renew the capabilities of the airborne nuclear component as planned by the Military Programming Law [Loi de Programmation Militaire: LPM] (2024-2030).”

The ASMPA-R is one of the two legs of France's strategic nuclear deterrent to be modernised in the LPM 2024–30 published in July 2023, alongside the Sous-Marin Nucléaire Lanceur d'Engins de Troisième Génération (SNLE 3G) third-generation nuclear ballistic missile submarine.